The Hard Things

While at work this week God taught me a valuable truth.  I was working with a client who struggles with fine motor control.  She's an adorable 4 year old who melts down quite often.  Many of her techs are so uncomfortable with the melt down that they stop the process midway, placating to the drama that's unfolding.  I have to admit that I have been one of those techs in the past.

When asked to work on zipping a coat, she told me "You do the hard part and I will finish".  I replied "No you can do it." Thus began the biggest tantrum ever.  She plopped to the floor crying in a puddle of discouragement.  She rolled all the way to the other side of the room screaming "No you do it, I can't!"  She rolled til she hit the wall, all the while hearing me repeat the words "You can do hard things."  When she got to the wall, she began wailing and kicking the wall.  I told her "I'll wait."  After a few minute's I finally said "If I do the hard part, you will never learn to do it."

Here's where the lesson came in... 

I heard a quiet voice in my head repeat those words..."If I do the hard part you will never learn to do it."

It was as if my Father in Heaven were speaking directly to me.  I heard him.

How many times do we ask the Lord to "do the hard part"?  How many times do we have a major break down when he won't do it?  We can plead with him, cry, scream and kick, but to no avail.  You see our Father in Heaven and our Savior know that we must learn by our own experiences.  If they step in to "save the day", the day may be saved, but we won't be.  Their TOP priority is us and our salvation, and so must watch in uncomfortable silence sometimes waiting for us to give in to His will and complete the hard task before us.

We often do not understand the "whys" of a situation. We ask Him "Why must I have to go through this hard thing? "Don't you love me?" To which He says unequivocally "Yes!  That's why you can do it.  We will be here all along the way encouraging you as you learn to do what is so hard"


My life may not be as I dreamed of so many years ago as a naive teenager.  It has taken turns along the way that I have questioned.  I now sit on a road that is bumpy but passable.  I have been known to question why I must do something so hard for me.  I  have pleaded with the Lord and my Father to let me go back to the road I was traveling before.  "Why can't we make THAT road work" "I will do a better job if you just let me do it"  "I can't travel on this road"  


But this is where I am.  This is the hard thing I must do to obtain God's promises of a better life.  I testify that God is here.  I feel him and see him daily through the acts of others who have no clue they are part of my journey.   They walk along side me and every so often go ahead to smooth the road so I can pass.  For that I am in debt to my family and friends...but most of all I am, and always will be, in debt to the Father that gently says "You can do hard things".